City centre businesses are being invited to a special event to find out more about Chester’s new Business Improvement District (BID) and how they can get involved in its five-year plan to revitalise the city’s commercial heart.

The event takes place between 6:00pm and 7:30pm on Monday 29th September at Chester’s Grosvenor Hotel and attendees will also find out about some of the changes CH1ChesterBID Company has delivered over the summer for the benefit of the city centre.

Earlier this year, local businesses voted overwhelmingly in favour of the plan to create a BID in Chester and this event will be the first since CH1ChesterBID Company started its five-year term on September 1. Places are limited and businesses are encouraged to register via the CH1ChesterBID website to ensure they can attend.

CH1ChesterBID Chairman, Paul Daniels, said: “The BID event is an opportunity to bring BID Members together so we can share our progress over the last two months.

“The BID officially came into operation on September 1 and we have already developed commercial initiatives that have enabled us to start to delivering the benefits and improvements for our BID Members, as stated in our business plan.

“We want our BID Members to understand how they can influence and contribute towards reviving Chester’s financial performance over the next five years. Together we have all secured a great opportunity that must deliver material commercial benefits for every BID member. We hope to see as many people there as possible.”

The full BID term will last for five years from September 2014 to September 2019. 509 businesses in the city centre with a rateable value of more than £18,000 will contribute a levy equal to 1% of their business rates every year to generate approximately £2.5m of private sector funds over the five years that will be reinvested back into the city centre.

Almost 60% of city centre businesses within the proposed BID area voted in the CH1ChesterBID ballot. 75% voted in favour of the BID and importantly, the ‘Yes’ votes also represented 67% of the total rateable value of all the properties that voted. CH1ChesterBID needed to secure at least 51% of ‘Yes’ votes on both counts to win the ballot.